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September 14: Voices for Change: Voting, Advocacy, and Action
Session 1: Social Workers, the Vote and US Democracy presented by Terry Mizrahi and Mimi Ambramovitz
12 – 1:30 p.m.
Virtual
Social workers who sit at the intersection of the individual and society are well positioned to reach large numbers of unregistered voters. The field education department of social work schools represents the hub of National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign (Voting is Social Work). Since 2018 the Campaign, endorsed by more than 25 major social work organizations, has been working with schools of social work and their associated agencies to register large numbers of students, clients, and constituents to vote. This presentation discusses the historic role of social workers in voter registration, the benefit of voting, and the mounting barriers to a fair vote. It focuses on voter suppression designed to demoralize the electorate, to make people believe that their system is rigged and that their vote does not count, and suggests that voter suppression and systemic racism increasingly represent dangerous threats to democracy in the US.
September 21: Our Happiness, Our Health, Our Future: His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Reflections and Conversations on Our Happy, Healthy, and Sustainable Future
The Dalai Lama will join Monmouth University and guests on Tuesday, September 21, at 11:30 p.m. EDT for a livestream session to engage in conversation with our students and colleagues and offer his message of happiness, health, well-being, and the future of this earth, our only home. Monmouth University will also host an in-person viewing session on a large screen on the Shadow Lawn in front of the Great Hall. (inclement weather location TBD). Food and other events will lead up to the main livestream event.
September 27: Service as Healing: A Follow-up to the Dalai Lama’s Message
7:30 – 9 p.m.
On Zoom
Join us for a virtual panel discussion on the role of service as a path to happiness.
Panelists
- Senator Vin Gopal, NJ State Senator, 11th District, Vin Gopal Civic Association
- Yogesh Lalotra, INDspire Tours, Delhi India
- Jennifer Trimarchi, LPC, Board Member of One Life to Love
Moderator: Matthew Tirrell, Administrator, Adjunct Faculty, CAC Advisor
In his recent livestreamed visit to the Monmouth University community, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama spoke of service as the source to happiness and compassion as the key to inner peace. In response to the Dalai Lama’s important message, our three panelists will share their perspectives and experiences on how service work has transformed their lives. Each panelist is positioned to offer a unique take on the role of service to their community from both a personal and professional lens.
Please join us for an evening of sharing and growing our cultural awareness, in reflection on the teachings of the Dalai Lama.
Sponsored by CSA and the CAC’s Social Justice, Advocacy, and Community Service Program
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September 30: An Evening with Poet Adrienne Su
6 p.m.
Virtual
Join us via Zoom for a reading and discussion with poet Adrienne Su, hosted by EN 615: Craft Seminar and Dr. Mihaela Moscaliuc.
To receive the access link for this session, you can register online or request the link by emailing
mmcbride@monmouth.edu.
October 4 – 9: Climate Crisis Teach-In 2021
Weeklong Series of Events
Virtual
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Wake Up to Climate Change
The Climate Crisis Teach-In is an annual interdisciplinary event designed to raise awareness of the climate crisis.
October 6: World Cinema Series: Sin Nombre – Virtual Panel Discussion
7:30 p.m.
Virtual
This World Cinema Series zoom discussion illuminates the theme “Living on the Edge: Displacement, Identity, and Resilience” by analyzing the message and impact of the 2009 film, Sin Nombre.
Sin Nombre (English: “Nameless”) is a Mexican-American adventure thriller film written and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, about a Honduran girl trying to immigrate to the United States, and a boy caught up in the violence of gang life.
This event is free but registration is required.
October 12 Voices for Change: Voting, Advocacy, and Action
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Session 2: Living Beyond the Trauma of Racism: #IamHer presented by Anjanette Young
6 – 8 p.m.
Virtual
This session will speak to the inequities that Black and Brown People experience in their local communities by the hands of the police. A system whose policies and laws were never created to be fairly implemented with Black and Brown People and allows too much room for bias. Specifically, this session will unpack Ms. Young’s personal experience of how these systems continue to fail Black and Brown People and leave behind a trail of trauma, hurt and distrust in our communities, as relates to the police and the criminal justice system. Ms. Young will discuss her decision to fight for justice which meant exposing the most traumatizing moment of her life. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own personal experiences with the police and discuss how we can all get involved in fighting for justice.
October 13: IGU-UCI Global Ocean Governance Lecture Series Panel: Current Issues in Global Governance of Whales
12 Noon – 1:15 p.m.
Virtual
Click or tap to register for IGU-UCI Global Ocean Governance Panel Presentation
The Monmouth University Institute for Global Understanding (IGU) and Urban Coast Institute (UCI) will kick off the second season of their joint Global Ocean Governance Lecture Series on Oct. 13 with a panel discussion of international issues and challenges concerning the protection of whales.
The discussion will be moderated by Professor Randall Abate, director of the IGU, and include the following presentations and speakers:
- “Modernizing the International Whaling Commission’s Approach to Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling,” University of Alberta (Canada) Associate Professor of Law Cameron Jeffries
- “Saving the Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale: Challenges and Opportunities,” Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Staff Scientist Francine Kershaw
- “Ensuring the Continuing Recovery: Protecting the Great Whales in the Context of 21st Century Challenges,” Wildlife Conservation Society Ocean Giants Program Director Howard Rosenbaum
The virtual discussion is free and open to the public and will take place from noon to 1:15 p.m. A Zoom link will be provided upon registration. Visit the UCI Blog for registration and information on presentations and speakers.
November 10 World Cinema Series: Atlantics Virtual Panel Discussion
7:30 p.m.
Virtual
Join us for a World Cinema Series zoom discussion illuminating the theme “Living on the Edge: Displacement, Identity, and Resilience” by analyzing the message and impact of the 2019 film, Atlantics. Atlantics (French: Atlantique) is a internationally co-produced supernatural romantic drama film directed by Mati Diop, in her feature directorial debut. It was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Diop made history when the film premiered at Cannes, becoming the first Black woman to direct a film featured in competition at the festival.
This event if free and open to the public, but registration is required.
November 12 Philly Bus Trip to Barnes Museum
Click or tap image to view and download flyer for bus trip schedule and QR code for registration.
9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Cost: $5 with Student ID
For more than three decades, Barnes has collected some of the world’s most important impressionist, post-impressionist and modern paintings, including works by Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso. He displayed them alongside African masks, native American jewelry, Greek antiquities, and decorative metalwork.
Sponsored by the Institute for Global Understanding and the Artists for Change Club
November 16 Voices for Change: Voting, Advocacy, and Action
Session 3: The Strengths of Black Families presented by Denise McLane-Davison
4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Virtual
The political era of the Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, Gay Rights, and The Black Power Movement demanded the inclusion of rigorous research that centered racial and gender identity as significant narratives. The emergence of Black Studies and Women’s Studies, along with student-led and national organizations incorporating the same identity politics also demanded inclusion in intellectual landscapes. During this era Black social scientists blanketed the scholarship, theory, and treatment research that anchored African cultural values, traditions, knowledge, and generational behaviors as disruptive characteristics of pathologized Black family rhetoric. Collectively, cultural scholarship named the impact of adapting Black life to oppression and anti-Blackness policy. They declared the Black family as the fundamental source of strength of the Black community and as the defense for Black life from external threats. This session provides a historical and contemporary alignment on the Black strength perspective through racial pride, resistance, and resilience.
Please click or tap image to register online for one or both lectures.
November 18 Dr. Gusak Shares Her Experiences Working with Ukrainian Veterans
6 p.m.
This event will be in person only for faculty and students
November 22 Challenges of Human Trafficking Global to Local
6 – 8 p.m.
Congressman Chris Smith (Invited) and Victoria Spera-Ballestros
Nataliia Gusak, Ph.D., MSW is an Associate professor and the Head of the School of Social Work Department at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Ukraine). She is also a member of the Methodical Commission on Social Welfare curriculum and standards development (Ministry of Ukraine on Education and Science, Ukraine); the Mykola Kravets laureate for practical contribution to the development of Ukraine (scientific, public activity and entrepreneurship). Dr. Gusak has 10 years of experience in teaching social work and social research related courses; experience in providing trainings, organization development and supervision for social agencies staff. She was involved as an expert and consultant in international projects aimed at strengthening social work and services in Ukraine, performed by international (IMC, UNDP, UNODC, UNICEF, WHO, IOM, World Bank, Embassy of Switzerland etc.) and Ukrainian government (including Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine). Dr. Gusak’s research interest areas include methodology of social work researches, military social work, resilience and trauma, migration and human trafficking.
Panelists
Congressman Chris Smith served as a senior member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and is Ranking Member of its Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations Subcommittee.
Victoria Spera-Ballesteros, MID is Community Coordinator for Community Engagement at Connections Matter NJ. Ms. Spera -Ballesteros coordinates the Human Trafficking Prevention program in training, outreach, and education throughout the State of New Jersey.
December 2 Voices for Change: Voting, Advocacy, and Action
Session 4: Supporting Systems and Communities in Achieving Racial Equality: A Groundwater Analysis presented by Joyce James
6 – 8 p.m.
Virtual
In this presentation, Ms. James will share her journey in developing the Texas Model for addressing Disproportionality and Disparities and the Groundwater Analysis for Addressing Racial Inequities© as the foundation for creating antiracist organizational cultures for undoing institutional and structural racism and improving outcomes for all populations. Participants will gain an increased understanding of the importance of cross systems collaborations and building partnerships with poor communities of color to remove the barriers that contribute to racial inequities. The session will include discussion of the pitfalls of well-meaning and well-intentioned leaders, who in isolation of an analysis of institutional and structural racism, and a racial equity lens, continue to unconsciously contribute to sustaining and often perpetuating racial inequities in the design and delivery of programs and services.
